NIGHTJAR OR GOATSUCKER. 2/7 



some other northern islands is only known as an occasional 

 passage migrant. 



Open heathy wastes, bracken-covered slopes and woods, 

 doughs and corries on the hills where bracken mingles with the 

 ling, are the haunts of the crepuscular Nightjar. The strange 

 purring trill, its song, from which it derives some of its 

 numerous names, is the surest means of identification. It flies 

 at dusk, often at sundown, a long-tailed, shadowy form with 

 easy, silent moth-like flight ; its strong and deliberate wing- 

 beats alternate with graceful sweeps and wheels with motionless 

 wings. The beautifully variegated plumage shows relationship 

 or similarity to the Wryneck, its wide gape and long wings to 

 the Swift, its soft downy plumage and habits to the Owls, but 

 in many characteristics it stands alone — a Nightjar. There is 

 nothing grating or harsh, no "jar" in its soft trill, which rises 

 and falls as it vibrates on the variable evening breeze, or as the 

 bird turns its head from side to side. The lower mandible 

 vibrates, the throat is distended until the feathers stand out. 

 When it churrs the bird lies or crouches along a bough or rail, 

 but it will sing from a post, and occasionally perch across a 

 branch. 



" Lone on the fir-branch, his rattle-notes unvaried, 

 Brooding o'er the gloom, spins the brown eve-jar." 



The similarity to the whirr of the old-fashioned spinning-wheel 

 doubtless originated the name " Jenny-spinner." The duration 

 of the trill may be for a fraction of a minute or for several 

 minutes without a pause ; rarely I have heard it in the day- 

 time, and I have listened to it during the first gfimmer of 

 morning light. It is continued at intervals during summer, and 

 occasionally may be heard in August and September, just 

 before the bird departs. 



During the day the Nightjar lies silent upon the ground, 

 often on a heap of stones, wonderfully concealed by its 



